Nathan Quinn made it two major rally wins in consecutive weekends when he won the prestigious Alpine Rally last weekend.
A week after winning the Australian Rally Championship component of the Coffs Coffs Rally in a Hyundai i20 G4, the 36-year-old showed his versatility by switching to a 52-year-old Mazda RX2.
The 2017 national champion’s win on his home event was in a Hyundai that sports Mitsubishi Lancer running gear, but the Alpine win couldn’t have been any more different.
The four-day ‘blind’ rally was held over 26 stages and 420 competitive kilometres, and in hot and dry conditions against the best classic rally cars in the country.
Quinn won the Alpine Rally in 2019, but that rally was shortened because of heavy rain, so he and Ray Winwood-Smith felt they had unfinished business.
With this year’s Alpine being the 100th anniversary of the world’s second oldest rally (behind only the Monte Carlo Rally), there was no better time to write their name in the record books.
Quinn wasn’t always the fastest driver in the rally, but he led for much of the time and was more than two minutes in front when it really counted.
The early pace had been set by Adrian Stratford in a Honda-engined Toyota Corolla, but he retired on the penultimate day with a damaged sump on what was the car’s major competition debut.
Brendan Reeves had been expected to challenge for the win in his highly-modified Datsun 1600, but bent steering, major brake issues and a broken driveshaft meant that ninth outright was the best Reeves could manage.
The surprise of the rally was Queenslander Tristan Carrigan in a 1999 Mitsubishi Magna. The big 3.5-litre Magna shouldn’t really be competitive against much smaller cars, but Carrigan is a special talent and won many stages.
Only an off-road excursion late on the second day cost Carrigan what would probably have been a top-three finish. He rejoined the rally and continued to set winning stage times.
Jack Monkhouse was another pre-event favourite, but a broken driveshaft on his Datsun 180B ended his hopes on just the second stage.
There were no such dramas for Quinn, however, who used his vast experience and the reliability of the 1970 Mazda RX2 to his advantage.
“It does feel pretty good,” Quinn said at the finish in Lakes Entrance.
“I didn’t doubt myself, but certainly you always don’t want to hope for more and deliver less.
“It’s really tough and we came here to race, and it was a bit of a surprise being raced by the front-wheel drives, and I reckon that will create a resurgence of front-wheel drive. It could be the last time a classic car wins this rally, perhaps.
“I’ve been rallying since 2007, so today I finally ticked that box where it says I’ve become a rally driver and can do 420 kilometres of single-stage rallying.
“To manage a lead over the weekend, I think is the epiphany of rally driving.”
Second place went to Andrew Travis in a 6-cylinder Nissan Gazelle, ahead of Claude Murray in a Datsun 1600. The first Ford Escort home was Luke Sytema’s RS1800 in fourth place.
Seventy-six cars finished the Alpine Rally after a full field of 115 cars left the start line on Thursday afternoon.
Alpine Rally final results:
1/ Nathan Quinn / Ray Winwood-Smith, Mazda RX2, 4h20m28s
2/ Andrew Travis. / David Travis, Nissan Gazelle, +2m45s
3/ Claude Murray / Lizzie Ferme, Datsun 1600, +5m28s
4/ Luke Sytema / Tracey Dewhurst, Ford Escort RS1800, +7m35s
5/ Ryan Smart / Brad Jones, Datsun Stanza, +7m54s
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